Flock Together
by Satire Swift
Summary: A continuation of Birds of a Feather.
1. Chapter 1

*Begin Meta*

Sitting around a semi-circular table with only a single lamp overhead for illumination (because that's how all clandestine meetings between high ranking officials take place), a trio of admirals grimaced at each other. They all knew why they were here.

"Honestly, I still don't see the point." The First Admiral finally said. "It was finished almost a year ago, and since then Satire Swift hasn't bothered adding to the fleet. What's the point of doing this now?"

"Because _In Flight_ is ending." The Second Admiral replied. "What is likely to be the last forum for omakes has been created. It would be remiss if Satire Swift did not contribute to this one. Besides, the Shipping Admiral himself as taken to the Sea again."

"That still doesn't answer my question." The First said. "He hasn't done this sort of thing in a long time. Hell, considering the fact that he's working on several of his own fics at the moment, now is a terrible time to go back to this. Besides, it's not like the Sea itself is being closed to him when _In Flight_ ends."

"Perhaps, but now is still the best time." The Third Admiral said. "Not many will come to the forums after the fic ends, and he feels that this one of his in particular has the strong ties with the original work. It's the same reason he worked to finish the Tropes Project."

The First sighed while rubbing his eyes. "Fine, but who are we going to get to captain the thing?"

"What about the First Mate?" The Third suggested. "He seemed to have a good head on his shoulders. Maybe we could promote him?"

The second however, merely shook his head. "No luck. He can't grow a decent beard."

All three sighed and nodded in agreement. You couldn't be captain if you didn't pass the grizzled threshold. That was just the way things were.

"You do of course realize that this means we need… him." The First said with a grimace. "How is it we only have one Captain anyway?"

"Tragic bar fight down by the marina." The Second explained. "He's the only one left alive."

The Third nodded. "I'll make the calls."

* * *

The phone ringed only once before a calloused hand reached out to grip it. The Captain brought the phone to his ear and said. "I knew this day would come."

There was a moment's pause before the person on the other end said something, to which the Captain replied. "Well, actually I've just been responding to all my phone calls like that."

Another pause followed by chatter. "Well, that seems like a stupid question now, don't it?"

* * *

The First Mate craned his neck from side to side, looking at his face in the mirror. He could see a bit of stubble finally growing on his jawline. If you used the right lighting. And squinted a bit.

The phone then rang, so he turned from his daily beard inspection to answer it. "Hello?" he asked, and listened to the man on the other end. "R-Really?! Does that mean I'll finally get my own command?!" Some more words followed, and the First Mate's shoulders slumped. "Oh. No, no, I understand. You know, I'm actually seeing some real progress on that front… Well, I'm almost have a 5'oclock shadow, so… Oh. Alright. Well, who is going to command?"

A few words later the phone dropped out of his hands. "NOOOOOO!"

* * *

The Third hung up the phone. "It is done."

The First gave another sigh. "Well, if Satire Swift must, then we will oblige." He reached down below the table to grab a folder. "I just hope he knows what he's doing." He plopped the folder down on the table, and any who were close enough could see that it had a diagram of a ship on the front, and the title at the top read _S.S. Uzume_. The Admiral then grabbed a stamp, gave it some ink, and slammed it on the folder with a loud thud.

RECOMISSIONED

*End Meta*

* * *

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Shirou asked the woman next to him.

"For the last time, yes." Uzume said as she rolled her eyes. "Come on, I would have thought that you'd be more eager."

He frowned at her and said "It's not like I don't want to, I just… if you're not comfortable with this…"

She gave a small snort and cocked her hips. "Please, I'm a big girl, and I know what I'm getting into. Besides I have some debts I need to pay back and you know it."

He gave a sigh and shifted his body. "Alright, but you know that I won't be holding back. With you, I'm going full tilt."

A small grin formed on Uzume's lips as she mirrored him. "I wouldn't have it any other way, bro. Now, show me your good stuff."

There was a tense moment between the two of them before they threw themselves at each other. The two moved with grace and precision beyond that of normal humans. Any who might have been watching would have been transfixed by the sight, not that such a thing would be seen in polite company. Mostly due to all the swords.

The pair danced across the clearing in Osaka Park, cloth and blade flying as the two battled. Shirou got in close and took a swipe with one of those large Chinese sabers of his, but Uzume was able to spring back with a backflip before it could connect. Landing deftly, she swept her arm out low and a large swath of cloth came with it, sweeping along the ground in an attempt to trip up his legs. Shirou jumped up to avoid, but realized too late that it was a feint as the cloth sudden changed direction and launched upwards, catching the man in the air. She moved in to take advantage of this, but even as he tumbled through the air the man managed to tossed one of the blades at her, forcing Uzume to dodge as he landed.

It had been about a week since Shirou had managed to fix Chiho of her condition, and things had never been better. Chiho was healthy at last, and Uzume could spend as much time as she wanted with the girl in the safety of the inn. However, her feeling of guilt had not left her entirely. While she was no longer under Higa's control, that did not change the things she had done at his command. She couldn't take those things back, but she did feel that she could at least prevent that sort of thing from happening again. She decided that the Veiled Sekirei would join the Kensei Sekirei to protect the other wings.

Which was why she was currently honing her skills with Shirou. While he had admitted that she was one of the more competent Sekirei he had faced thus far, it was still clear that there was much she could improve. It wasn't really fair to compare herself to Shirou in this respect; the man had a great deal more combat experience under his belt, which was to say nothing of that whole magic thing. So, she was going to learn everything she could from him. To be honest though, it wasn't just because of the Sekirei Plan that she was pushing herself so hard. Uzume had not forgotten what Shirou had told her of the other magic users in the world. How they could be even more dangerous than her own kind, and how they would take her apart to see how she worked. Worse, they would do the same thing to Chiho.

She would never let that happen. She would do whatever it took to be strong enough to keep her Chiho safe.

Unfortunately, she still had a ways to go, as 2 hours and several fights later she once again found herself pined to the ground by a number of swords through her cloth. The final blade had been driven home by his own hands, and as such Shirou was almost on top of her. The two still save for their heavy breathes, their eyes locked as a familiar tension filled the air between them. Still, Uzume couldn't help but raise an eyebrow suggestively and say "Really bro, you do seem fond of getting me in this position. Think you might have something pent up?"

Shirou blinked as if realizing the position they were in and sat up quickly. She could only see his eyes as he was wearing the mask of his usual battle outfit, but she could tell that a blush had formed on his face. "I, uh, that's enough for today." He said and in an instant the blades disappeared, allowing the woman to get to her feet.

Uzume gave a small sigh of guilt as she pulled herself up. She would have hoped that after all they had been through their relationship would have been more clear. Make no mistake, the two had certainly become closer since her declaration of love to Shriou, but it was clear that he didn't know how to respond. It was frustrating as she wanted to help the man, but she had no idea how to go about it.

The cloth around Uzume's body shifted and moments later she was in her street cloths again. When she caught Shirou starting at her, she asked "What is it?"

He titled his head slightly. "It's just… where does all that cloth come from? And where does it go?"

Uzume blinked at the question. "I… have got no idea. I've never really thought about it before."

Shirou grunted. "It's just something I've been thinking about. I have a few ideas about that cloth of yours… but that can wait for another time. Come on, let's head back."

"Yeah, and let's get you back where you belong, in the kitchen!" Uzume said with a grin. "Seriously bro, I may have to chain you to an oven one of these days and make you me and Chiho's maid."

Shirou rolled his eyes, but gave her a good natured smile as they headed back to the inn.

* * *

Uzume lay back on the futon, a small smile on her face as Chiho excitedly danced around the room as he talked about her day. "And after we finished shopping, we went to Koyto Park and played Frisbee! And then we all got ice cream! And then Musubi fell into the fountain! And I got to play with a bunch of adorable puppies!"

Uzume couldn't help but feel happiness at how her Ashikabi was able to do all the things that had been denied to her in the past due to her illness. Chiho had spent the day with Minato's gaggle of girls, and it seemed that she got a lot out of it. Uzume had wanted to come along, but in addition to needing to train with Shirou, she had been spending basically every moment possible with the her Ashikabi during the last week. She didn't want to smother her, so when she heard that the other Sekirei of the inn where having a day out, she encouraged Chiho to go out with them, as she needed some friends outside of herself and Shirou.

Eventually, Chiho's energy wound down and all the events of the day caught up with her. Her shoulders sagged a little while a weary smile crossed her face. "Fuu… I think I'm ready for bed now." She then walked to the futon and unceremoniously flopped down on top of Uzume, much to the other woman's surprise. Chiho nestled her head against Uzume's chest and muttered "Can I do this again someday?"

Words could not describe the joy in Uzume's heart at how she was about to hold her love close and say "Of course. You can do it as often as you want."

Chiho gave a small hum and was silent for a few moments before she said softly "How was your day with Shirou?"

The other woman blinked in surprise at the question. "It was… good. We got some stuff done." Uzume had yet to tell Chiho that she was planning on joining Shriou in his self-appointed task of protecting the Sekirei. She knew she shouldn't, but she just didn't want her to worry. "He's been actin' a little weird lately, but it's probably nothing."

There was another moment of silence before Chiho said in a whisper. "He's afraid."

"Huh?" Uzume asked in confusion, looking down at the woman laying on her.

Chiho appeared to be drifting off, but even so she still spoke in a quiet voice. "He's afraid of getting close to you. He wants to love you, but he fears that he'll betray the other two he loves. The knight doesn't know how to fight the battle in his heart…"

Uzume stared at Chiho in surprise, but it seemed that was all she had to say, as moments later she was sleeping peacefully. Uzume knew that Chiho was absurdly perceptive, but she had never seen her read anyone other than herself like that.

The Sekirei was not given long to mull over Chiho's comment though, as soon there was a soft knock at the door. It slid open to reveal none other than the man in question. He paused when he noticed the position the two women were in. "Is this a bad time?" He asked in a low tone.

"Just speak softly." Uzume replied. "What'ca need?"

"I've been keeping an eye on things. It looks like Higa put a bounty on our heads."

A scowl crossed Uzume's face at the name. She had been going out of her way to avoid anything to do with that man, but she was reasonably sure that he had not been made happy by how she slipped away from him. "Does he know where we are?"

"No. As far as I can tell, he has no idea that we're staying in the north." Shiruo said. "Still, he's willing to pay a few million yen to anyone who can take us down for him. I can't tell if he's being prudent and assuming we'll attack him later or just wants some petty revenge."

"Knowing him, probably both."

Shirou gave her a concerned look. "Uzume, if you-"

She cut him off. "I know what you're gonna say, but I'm still doing it. It doesn't matter who's coming after us. I need to do this. I gotta do something to make up for what I did." Her expression softened. "Besides, I'm not letting you go it alone anymore. Someone has to take care of you, even if you won't, you noble idiot."

Shirou was taken off guard by this, but in the end he just gave a sigh. "Alright, I just want to be sure." He's gaze drifted down look at bot her and Chiho, and a number of emotions crossed his face in that moment, resulting in something bittersweet. It passed quickly though, and soon he said "Well, good night."

Uzume got an impulse right then which she decided to follow. With her right arm still wrapped around Chiho, her left shot out and a bolt of cloth extended from it, reaching across to room to wrap around the man's waist. "And where do ya think you're going?" She said coyly.

"Uh, to bed?" He said in confusion looking back at her.

She shook her head. "Nuh uh. My two favorite people aren't going anywhere tonight." With a pull of her arm and a small yelp from him, the man tumbled into the room and ended up partway on top her as well. It was fortunate that the woman had a lot of chest to spare. Uzume couldn't help but grin as Shirou's face went red.

Although, it was worth noting that he didn't leave the room that night.


	2. Chapter 2

*Begin Meta*

"Ah, it feels good to be back on the open sea again, doesn't it?" The Captain said rhetorically, gazing out over the currently peaceful waters of the Shipping Sea.

"I guess…" The First Mate sighed dejectedly, idly picking at the number of pips on his collar.

"Of course it does." The Captain continued as he adjusted his paper hat, not really listening anyway. "Course after all that down time, I'm rarin' for some action!" He turned his head this way and that, glancing out over the waters to find a foe worthy of his (recommissioned) ship. Naturally, everything was silent for a few moments before he yelled. "Now where the hell is everyone!?"

"Sir, do you even read the mission dossiers?"

"Of course I don't! Got no working eyes, remember?" The man said, taping his glass eye and pointing at the eye patch.

The First Mate blinked in confusion. He began to wonder how the man seemed to have no problems doing anything else sight related, but stopped himself. Down that path lay naught but madness. "So, how do you get the mission briefings?"

The man pointed at his makeshift headgear. "I got to do something with those things. I use my captainyness to absorb the knowledge straight into my brainpan."

The other man was stunned silent for a moment before a weary sigh overcame him. Then with unfortunately practiced ease, the First Mate started explaining things to him. "There really isn't anyone left. Most of the good shipping plans have come and gone. There are plans for one or two ships, but no one's got the time or effort for that anymore. This is mostly just a parade run."

"Damnation, lad! That's even worse than last time!" The Captain exclaimed. "And just why the hell is the engine on this thing so damn slow now?" He banged the hull for emphasis. "Last time Satire banged out six chapters in a couple o' weeks!"

"That's when he was unemployed." The First Mate Said evenly. "Furthermore, he has a number of other fics he's working on, pretty much all of them more popular than this one."

The Captain then began to grumble. "Hardly the sendoff the old girl deserves." He then sighed and walked back to the helm. "Oh well. At least I managed to grab something before I left to make this more interesting."

The other man became wary. "Wait, what are you talking about?"

"It was thinkin' that it was kinda lame that even though there was an epilogue, Satire ain't showing what happened after Rin and Saber found him. So before we left I rooted around the R&D department and got this installed!" He pointed to a lever next to the throttle. "It's a Chrono- uh, thingamajig! Now I can jump the ship to whatever point in the story I want!"

The First Mate became alarmed. "Won't that horribly destabilize the narrative and ruin any sense of chronological order-"

"Too late this is more fun!" The Captain yelled before pulling the lever and-

* * *

" _So…" Rin said slowly, glaring at Uzume as the lot of them sat in the yard outside the inn. The Sekirei of course returned the glare with a coy smile, causing Rin's voice to be laced with irritation as she said "When you said that you wanted in…"_

" _I meant exactly what you thought I meant." Uzume replied. She felt both amused and kind of bad at how Chiho was shifting uncomfortably next to her as they talked about this. Still, he Ashikabi wasn't actually protesting anything, so Uzume saw no reason to back out now._

" _I think the reason we would like to know is why." Saber said pointedly, her expression not a glare exactly but no less intense than the dark haired woman's. After the two of them had pummeled Shirou to their satisfaction, it was made clear that that nothing inappropriate had yet occurred between The man and Uzume, which was why the lot of them were able to sit calmly and discuss the situation._

 _Well, some of them were anyway. "If I may-" a somewhat bruised Shirou began._

" _You may not." Rin said primly. "I would like to hear why this creature who has supposedly found her bonded mate has such an interest in you from herself."_

 _Uzume shrugged. "It's not that hard to understand. Shirou saved both of our lives at one point or another, not to mention the fact that he's always been there for us since we meet him. He's done more for me and Chiho than I ever thought possible, so yeah, we fell for him. I mean, what else were we supposed to do with the guy?"_

"… _She has a point." Everyone looked at Saber whose mouth was twisted into a cross between a grimace and a rueful smile._

 _Rin just sighed in exasperation before looking at Shirou. "Of course you start doing that again. I can't let you out of my sight for even a second, can I? I shudder to think what would have happened if you had actually been able to attract these Sekirei."_

" _Probably something a lot more awkward and uncomfortable than this." The man said._

 _Rin grunted before glancing back at Uzume and Chiho. "Well, I suppose that this is not the worst way things could have turned out, but I'm still not accepting it. Besides, it's a moot point in the end, because Shirou doesn't share your feelings." There was a long expectant pause, which Shirou did not opt to fill. Rin's head slowly turned in his direction, and her voice became flat. "I said, that Shirou doesn't return your feelings."_

 _Shirou opened his mouth, but then he paused and looked off to the side awkwardly. Unfortunately for him, that pause caused Rin's eyebrow to twitch and she lashed out her hand, pointing it at him in the shape of a gun. There was a bang and a black projectile shot towards Shirou's head._

 _But it never connected, as in the same instant a bolt of white cloth flashed between the two, and the black bolt dispersed as it was struck. "Shirou was right. You do jump to anger first." Uzume remarked with amusement, her arm extended and the cloth still hanging between the once separated lovers._

 _Rin glared at the woman. "Hmp. I see that your kind has some interesting tricks. And judging by your reaction, I'm guessing that Shirou taught you a thing or two about magic."_

 _Uzume chuckled at this. "Oh, bro here taught me a little more than that…" she said as she twisted the cloth in mid-air, and a sharp gasp came from Rin at the sight of runes glowing brightly on the cloth._

* * *

-The First Mate threw the lever back to its original position, the world righting itself once again. "Damn it sir! We can't just go making big reveals like that out of context!"

"Well how do we know if we're ever actually gonna get to that context in the first place! We're moving at a snail's pace here man!" The Captain retorted.

The other man glared at him. "Let's just do this the normal way for now, alright?"

The Captain gave a theatrical sigh. "Ah, fine. We'll do it your way." He watched the other man nod and wander off. "… for now."

*End Meta*

* * *

Uzume and Shirou watched the streets from a nearby rooftop, taking a break from their patrol. It was still during the day, which was unusual for the two as they typically didn't don their costumes until nightfall. Really the pair of them were supposed to be training some more, but Uzume was feeling restless and decided that she wanted to go roof hoping. Shirou resisted until she pointed out how plenty of Sekirei battles took place during the day as well as the night, at which he relented.

"Is this always what it's like for you Sekirei?" He asked out of the blue, looking down at the various people going about their business.

"What'da mean?" She asked.

"Standing above and separate from humans." He said. "The lot of you favor rooftops a great deal. Does it ever make you feel… removed from everyone else?"

Uzume raise an eyebrow at this. "Well, I guess it kinda did at first… but that was before I met Chiho. I wouldn't be surprised if others felt the same way. The unwinged are trying to find the way down from the roofs."

Shirou simply gave a contemplative hum and kept looking down. The woman regarded him curiously for a moment before she had a small flash of insight. "You're thinking about yourself, aren't you?"

"I haven't really thought about it before now, but yeah." He admitted. "I never really noticed it back in London because I lived and worked with other mages, but here I'm… singular. I know it's not the same, and I can hardly call myself special with you lot running around, but it's still a new experience for me. Never thought as a kid this would be one of the things I'd have to deal with if I became a superher-" He gave a start and cut himself off. "Uh, never mind."

Uzume blinked. "You wanted to be a superhero as a kid?"

"Uh, no?" Shirou blatantly lie.

A Cheshire grin split her face. "That is so _you_. And adorable." She looked him up and down. "You know, if you find your current outfit to be too drab, I could totally make a cape for you. Something that'll look good when you pose dramatically in the breeze."

Shirou shifted in embarrassment. "W-We should get moving. We're close to the East's territory."

Uzume gave a small chuckle at him changing the subject, but nodded in agreement. However, before the two of them could move, Shirou stiffened, and Uzume saw him take a deep breath through his nose. He had told her how he could pick up the 'scent' of Sekirei through his nose (a little weird if you asked her), and that seemed to be what was happening now. "Something up?" She asked.

"Three Sekirei just converged on one spot. I think there's a fight going down."

"Well then, let's go save the day, hero."

Shirou let out an exasperated sigh before turning and jumping to the next roof, Uzume following close behind. A few more and a short time later, the two found themselves looking down at a different sidewalk with group of people fighting. They didn't jump down immediately, instead gauging the situation first. While most did not, some members of the Sekirei Plan actually like the idea of a death match, and those tended to get cranky if their fights were interrupted.

That didn't look to be the case here though, and the scene before her was unusual. There was a pair of Sekirei, a woman in a sleeveless kimono and a woman with tonfas, standing over a young man who was currently on his knees. He looked battered and Uzume at first glance assumed that he was another hapless Ashikabi that Higa's goons were capturing. She realized this was wrong when she noticed a short distance away a man holding and young woman from behind, a knife in his hand and poking at her side. The young woman tickled something in Uzume's memory and with a start she realized that she had seen this girl before. She had been that target she had been hunting the night before she and Kazehana ended up in Shirou's room. The young woman was the Ashikabi, not the guy. Either way, things didn't look particularly good for either of them.

"If you don't want your Sekirei to get hurt, I suggest that you come with me." The man said. "My employer has had an interest in you for quite some time."

"Shiina…" the girl said as she looked helplessly at the young man.

Shirou shifted, his stance telling Uzume just what he thought of the situation. "I think this requires intervention. You engage the two Sekirei and distract them. I'll take out the man with the knife."

Uzume nodded, and a moment later she jumped down from the roof, cloth spear already forming in her hand. However, a Sekirei's natural instincts are not to be underestimated, as even as she was about to strike the tonfa user, the woman spun in alarm and knocked the spear to the side. She only had time to let out a brief cry before Uzume landed next to the two, quickly lashing out with whips of cloth. In truth, she was not trying to terminate them; she had done enough of that already that she didn't want to do it unless she had to. He goal was to simply push the two away from the male Sekirei, which she accomplished as the two enemy Sekirei were force to leap away to avoid her attack.

"You!" Uzume heard the man yelled. Placed as she was between the Sekirei and him, she spared a glance behind her to see that that thug had a mix of contempt and greed on his face. "I can't believe you're sticking your neck out after defying Higa. He's going to pay me a small fortune when I bring your hide back! Get her!"

She turned back in time to avoid the fist of the one in the sleeveless kimono, slipping past her to keep the other one from boxing her in. The male Sekirei seemed to have ducked to the side, so Uzume had no problem cutting loose a bit. "White Lotus Dervish!" she called out as she spun, and her cloth billowed out from her, making her the center of a maelstrom of white. It had none of the force of her usual attacks, but it confused and disoriented the two Sekirei trying to get close to her. They would catch glimpses of her through the cloth, but she was never quite where she seemed to be when they tried to strike at her. Uzume's arms and legs lashed out, using what Shirou had taught her to strike the other two women in the blind spots created by her technique.

Through the cries of pain and frustration around her, she managed to hear a new voice, likely the male Sekirei, shout "Let go of mistress Yukari!"

"Stay back! Unless you want your precious tart to have one more hole in- Wha-!" The thug was suddenly cut off, and there was a loud snapping noise. "GRAAAH!"

"Shit!" The woman with the tonfas yelled, and she and her partner jumped away from Uzume, who stopped her dance. Now that she had stopped spinning, she could see Shirou standing behind the thug, that man's arm bend at a sickening angle as Shriou held on to him with one hand. The other held a black saber across the man's throat. When he saw that he held everyone's attention, he jerked his head to the side, clearly indicating that he wanted the offending party to leave.

"T-that's the guy that took out Toyotama and Ichima." The one in the sleeveless kimono said, more than a little panic in her voice. "I don't want to fight him alone, let alone the two of them!"

Her partner grimaced, but nodded. Shirou then threw the thug of to the side. The grabbed him and ran, the man spouting curses as they faded into the distance. Uzume scowled after them. She would have hoped that Higa would have been doing his own dirty work now, but today proved that he was being cautious now, and not without cause. She also knew that this latest incident would probably not make things any better for her, but she could worry about that later.

She turned back to the other three and found to her mild surprise that the young woman was gushing over her new savoir. "Ohmygod ohmygod you're the Kensei Sekirei! I've been reading all about you on the forums! How you saved all those people who didn't want to fight! I bet that you keep all this a secret from your Ashikabi, because you know she'll worry about you if she knew, but the call to justice is too strong and so you must defend the innocent from evil!"

Shirou shifted uncomfortably at this, but said nothing. As a general rule, he didn't speak while he was in his outfit. Thankfully, the other male came to his rescue "Mistress… " Shiina fretted, looking the girl over. "Are you alright? Are you injured?"

"I'm fine, fine." She waved him off as she turned to him. "Well, maybe I'm a little shook up, but-" she cut herself off as her eyes drifted past him to lock onto Uzume, who was walking towards the group. Her eyes widened and she pointed at her. "Look out, Kensei! It's your arch-nemesis the Veiled Sekirei! "

Uzume paused, her head tilting to the side in confusion. Did the girl seriously not just see Uzume save her Sekirei? Maybe she had just convinced herself that Uzume was bad news no matter what she did. Still, the comment about her being Shirou's arch-nemesis amused her somewhat (partly because it had a hint of truth in it a while ago).

Yukari continued, settling into an aggressive stance. "Let's do this, Kensei! Shiina and I will help you in defeating this most notorious fiend!"

"Uh, actually, I think the two are working together." Shiina said.

Yukari looked at Shriou in alarm, who simply nodded before walking over to stand next to Uzume. Yukari looked uncertain. "Wait… so that means… the two of you…"

At this point Uzume decided to help the girl's brain along a little. She proceeded to lean on Shirou causally, and her hand drifted down to give his rear a solid smack. Shirou jumped a little and gave off a squeak before he turned to glare at her. Even with the hood and face mask she could tell that he was blushing furiously.

However, Yukari took this display of affection a little differently than she intended. Her glare returned and she pointed at Uzume. "You, you harlot! So you have seduced and corrupted a hero of justice into doing your wicked bidding! Well, don't worry Kensei! Shiina and I will beat this witch and free you from the spell she's cast on you!"

Uzume's shoulder's shook as she tried to contain her laugher at this development. Shirou merely buried his face in his hands, and she could hear him mutter "You're going to pay for this later."


	3. Chapter 3

*Begin Meta*

The First Mate didn't even know he had been dozing until the Captain suddenly shouted. "This is so boring!" The younger man's head snapped up right, which was unfortunate as he had been leaning back against a metal bulkhead. After stumbling around for a few moments his vision finally stopped seeing double and he said "I-I'm sorry you feel that way sir."

"Well, what else am I supposed to feel?" The captain growled. "Four bloody months without an update?! No wonder Satire has this thing marked as complete! He doesn't want people to remember that he's a lazy bastard who never finishes what he starts!"

"That's not true." The First Mate protested. "He's still working on… well most of what he's made. Besides which it takes him about two weeks these days to finish a decent chapter. So combine that with all the stuff he's working on-"

"Bah!" The Captain said dismissively as he paced around the bridge. "That's my point! He should actually be focusing on one thing at a time rather than bouncin' around like this! You got any fancy explanations for that?!"

"Well…" The other man said sheepishly. "Writer's prerogative?"

"Screw that! I've got my own prerogative!" The grizzled man shouted as he stomped over to a very specific level that had a 'Warning: Never Use' sign hung over it. As the Captain tore it off, the First Mate realized it had been fooling hoping that a mere sign would stop him. The Captain continued "I'm jumping to the inevitable kinky five-way we were all promised!"

In panic, the First Mate said "Sir, there are many reason you shouldn't do that, and besides which I don't even know it that scene exists-"

"Too bad! Lemon ho!" The Captain yelled before pulling the lever-

But nothing happened. There was a moment of confusion before a small slot below the lever printed out something on a piece of paper. The Captain snatched it and began reading it. "Dear user of the Chronological Narrative Jaunt Level, the scene you have just tried to view has been deemed censored by the legal department for illicit content that would get Satire Swift kicked off the website?!" He let out a scream of frustration and started kicking the console. "Damn it all to hell, why must you take everything I love away from me?! Why?!"

The First Mate breathed out a sigh of relief at this. Still… _So that scene actually does exist?_ He thought to himself. He spent a few moments thinking about how it must have played out before blood started dripping from his nose. "I'll, uh, I'll be in my bunk." He said before leaving the Captain to his own violent devices.

*End Meta*

* * *

As Uzume walked through the doors of the inn from her little shopping trip, a sound reached her ears. It wasn't one of the normal sounds that usually filled the inn, like the excited back and forth of some of Minato's girls, or the lecturing tone of Miya's voice. No, this was more like... music? It was not complicated, just a few notes one after the other keeping with a basic rhythm. It sounded like it was coming from a Japanese lute (or maybe it was a Chinese lute, she couldn't really tell the difference). More than that, there was also a voice singing along with it.

It was Chiho's voice.

Usume blinked in surprise at this. She never knew that Chiho sang. Then again by the sound of her occasionally missing a note it was likely that she didn't. Even when Uzume had first met her, the girl's voice has a breathy quality to it, like she was always slightly winded. It looked like now that she was better she decided that she would try her hand at it.

Curious, Uzume crept forward down the hallway towards the source of the sound. She found herself peering into the living room from around the corner of the door, and saw Chiho sitting next to Shirou. Once again, the Sekirei felt some surprise at this, as Shirou was not particularly inclined to the arts. The man was holding the lute and plucking at the strings one after another, with about as much skill as singing of the woman next to him. The two were amateur, but earnest in their efforts. Uzume felt no need to reveal herself just yet and instead stood where she was to watch the performance.

" _~A beauty from the North_

 _Stands unique in the world._

 _One look of her sacks the city,_

 _One more look of her sacks the country._

 _You'd rather not know that_

 _After ransacking the city and ransacking the country,_

 _You cannot find another beauty like her._ "

Uzume hummed softly to herself along with the tune. _Huh, didn't know she knew Chinese either_ , she thought to herself. _Chinese lute then_.

When the song had finished, Chiho turned to Shirou and asked "So, what did you think?"

He gave her a smile in return. "I think you did great. Then again, like I said, I'm not much of a musician. Are you sure you don't want someone else to-"

"No, no I want you to do it!" She said quickly, a light blush crossing her face. "I mean, I don't think anyone else in the inn is musically inclined either. And…" she trailed off, her blush increasing.

"And what?" Shirou asked as he leaned towards her, still kind of oblivious.

"…I want to get to know the man who made Uzume happy." Chiho said, looking away from Shirou. "And I don't want you to feel so alone."

Shirou was taken aback by this statement a merely looked at her in surprised. There were a few moments of awkward silence before Chiho lost her nerve and said in a rush "A-anyway, let's do this again soon!" She then sprung to her feet at scurried out of the room. Shirou was left looking after her, a confused expression on his face.

"Ya know, in the movies this is the part where you go running after her." Uzume said glibly as she walked into the room.

Shirou gave a start at this. "U-Uzume! What are you taking about?"

She just sighed and shook her head. "Man, you really aren't too bright at this sorta thing, huh?" His confused silence only confirmed this, and so she shrugged. "I'll tell you when you're older." Uzume then presented the bag of things she just acquired. "Anyway, let's go to your room. I got something interesting for us to do."

* * *

In Shirou's room, Uzume narrowed her eyes in concentration as she made her brush strokes, trying to make the lines as accurate as possible. It was slow going as she had to keep checking the picture she had as reference material, but she was getting there. It also didn't help that her canvas kept moving around. "Stop squirming," she chastised. "I would have thought that a man like you would have the patience to sit still."

"Patience isn't the problem," Shirou said with a small chuckle. He was currently sitting on a stool in front of her, his bare back presented to her. She was lucky that the space of his upper back was devoid of scars, as that was the spot she was currently working on. Shirou twitched slightly and continued. "The brush keeps tickling me."

"I'm sure that you can manage." Uzume replied with a smirk of her own.

The man gave a small sigh and said "So, remind me why I agreed to this again?"

"It's simple," Uzume replied as she finished the bird portion of the Sekirei Symbol on his back. "You can't have people knowing you've got magic powers, so you keep on letting everyone think you're a Sekirei when you're in that get up of yours. This is just taking that one step further. If your clothes ever get shredded this should add an extra lay of authenticity."

"Alright, but what happens if someone like Minato or his girls see me with this when they think I'm supposed to be a normal human."

She shrugged. "In that case, just tell them I painted it on you for fun. And if after _that_ they happen to see you doing your superhero thing, just say that you lied to them earlier in order to protect your identity. Deceit within deceit!" She cried with a fist pump.

The man turned his head to give her a wiry look. "Fair enough, but I have reservations about taking advice from House Harkonnen."

Uzume was mildly surprised at this before she responded. "Firstly, their plan was sound save for the fact that they didn't instantly off Paul as soon as they captured him. Secondly, it is so cool that you actually got that reference."

"Yeah, well, several years in England meant I had some time to get acquainted with western literature." A slight frown creased his face and he looked off to the side, his eyes focused on something distant.

Uzume felt a small bit of worry at this. No doubt he was thinking of the girls he left behind there. She had no desire to see him become morose for what he had lost, so she decide to distracted him with something more from the present. "So, are you and Chiho going to start a band?"

He gave a small start (once again ruining her steady hand) and looked back at her. "W-what? Why would you say that?"

She rolled her eyes. "Oh come on, what else you being doing? How'd she rope you into that anyway?"

Shirou looked mildly uncomfortable as he responded. "Well, Chiho had mentioned that she had always wanted to try singing, and I suggested that she should get someone to practice with. She then jumped to the conclusion that I was offering to do it. I tried to correct her but…" he trailed off.

"But what?" Uzume asked.

"She just gave me this look." He said vaguely.

"A… look." She said flatly.

"Yeah, it was just this…" he gestured uselessly. "I don't know, her eyes were really wide and staring into mine, and for some reason I found myself thinking of accompanying musical instruments".

Uzume paused for a few moments before a thought came to her. "Oh! Was it a look that conveyed limitless love, patience, and understanding, and was filled with unbridled hope?"

"… Now that you mention it, yeah."

"Yeah, that's her default expression." Uzume waved her hand. "It's terrible. I can never say no to her."

Both were silent for a moment before they both started to laugh. Between chuckles, Uzume flashed the man a smile. "I'm glad that you're spending time with her. She deserves all the friends she can get." _And so do you_ , she thought to herself.

Shirou returned her smile. "She's a nice girl. And if I had to admit it, I had more fun today than I thought I would." He gave a small sigh and looked into his lap. "I just hope that I- we can keep her out of all of our other nonsense."

Uzume grunted in agreement as she followed his gaze. In his lap was a piece of cloth she had created for him to fiddle with while she worked on the fake crest. He had taken an interest in her abilities and how they worked, and to be honest she was curious herself. It wasn't the first piece she had given to him though, as they disappeared after being separated from her for a while. "Didja find out anything interesting?"

"I did." Shirou said as he picked up the piece. "I far as I can tell, your cloth is formed out of Ether. It's actually the same stuff that my swords are made off."

Uzume titled her head to the side. "Ether?"

"Its form of raw magic which all spells are based on. Think of it like a transmission medium." He gave her a meaningful glance. "You're actually doing the same thing I do, only with cloth instead of swords."

"Cool." She said appreciatively. "Does that make me magic too?"

"Technically, all you Sekirei are. You're just inherently specialized to do one thing. There's something special in your case though." He made some drawing motions with his hands, and little runes appeared on the cloth in a circle. They were the same ones that he had showed her on that roof top to prove magic, and a moment later the small twister formed. "Because of its structure, it can work a medium for formula or runecraft as well. It can sustain and maybe even empower them."

The two watched the twister dance, but unlike the first time it didn't disappear after a few moments. It lasted for a whole half minute before it, along with the cloth, dissipated into the air. Shirou turned to look back at her. "Of course, without you actively powering it the spell will eat up the Ether quickly."

"Whoa…" She said as she thought about this. The next words came out her without thinking. "Do you think… I could learn how to do that?"

Shirou put on an expression of surprise before he put on a thoughtful look. "Well… I don't know? I mean, I have no idea if you have anything like magic circuits. I guess I could show you some rune combinations and see what happens-"

Uzume stopped listening at that point. "I'm gonna be a wizard!" she shouted before wrapping Shirou in a hug. Well, she wrapped his head in a hug so as to not mess up her work, which of course ended up with her breasts nearly enveloping the whole thing. He was stuttering and probably blushing at this but she didn't care. This was going to be awesome!


	4. Chapter 4

*Begin Meta*

In a certain part of the Shipping Sea, a heavy mist lingers over the water. Lost ships are inevitably drawn to this place, forgotten or abandoned by the creators and left to drift aimlessly. On rare occasions though, even if it is just for a moment, a ship will drift back _out_ of the mist.

The S.S Uzume is the ship in this not-so-hypothetical scenario, and in this ship a certain First Mate lay sleeping. Well, less lay and more hunched over the communications desk with his head buried in his arms, but semantics. Especially since the moment this scene starts the communications desk starts buzzing loudly.

The First Mate bolted upright and flailed about for a moment before he remembered where he was. He blinked owlishly as the missive being printed out in front of him, and his eyes widened when he saw who it was from. _Holy crap the author's not dead!_ He thought as he grabbed the paper and started reading through it quickly.

Even as he did this, a rhythmic thumping could be heard getting louder, as if someone was running toward the communications room as fast as his sea legs could take him. A few seconds later the Captain burst through the door, his face lit up with hope.

Without looking up from the paper the First Mate said "Still not a lemon chapter, sir."

Five minutes (and a good deal of cursing) later, Captain calmed down and gave the other man a weary look. "So, what's it this time? Another motley snippet before he casts us back to the void for God knows how long?"

"So it would seems..." The First Mate said flatly before he perked up a little. "But at least it seems this snippet came out because some fans _really_ wanted him to continue it. So, at least Satire Swift is listening to audience."

"Oh yeah? Well, did he also listen to how what the audience really wants is for all the characters' clothes to fall off and for nature to take it's inevitable course?!"

"I think you're projecting a little, sir."

The Captain threw up his hands in exasperation. "Well at least it would be a definite end to the damn fic! This 'complete but not really' thing is getting old!"

"Well, people are still asking him to make new chapters, so what is he supposed to do?" The First Mate asked as he looked at the man. "Remove all the chapters after chapter six and put them into their own sequel fic, thus allowing the original run to be complete yet leave the door open for more?"

The two looked at each other for a long moment before they looked at the communication console expectantly. Sure enough a second later it buzzed and another sheet printed out. The First Mate took it and read. "...yes, he'll be doing exactly that in a couple of days."

"Well, that's something at least..." The Captain let out a mix of a sigh and a grumble. "You know, since Satire disappeared from the site, I had started to worry that he had gone nuts and devolved into writing self insert trash somewhere else. Thank god that didn't happen." The First Mate sucked in a breath between his teeth, and the Captain eyed him suspiciously. "...what?"

Even through the thick fog, the scream could be heard for miles. " _What the hells is a Spacebattles?!_ "

*End Meta*

* * *

Uzume groaned as she trudged past the threshold of the Inn, her shoulders slumped as she moved down the hallway to her room. It wasn't a physical tiredness that bore her down so much as a mental one, a general frustration and exhaustion that came with running up against a problem that you couldn't solve. It was such that even the smell of Shirou's cooking wasn't able to brighten her mood, and she moved past the kitchen down the hall to her room and unceremoniously fell down face first on to her futon. She didn't even care that she was still wearing her business suit and getting it wrinkled, for all the good it was doing her lately.

A minute passed before she heard footsteps from the still open down behind her, and Shirou appeared in the doorway, wearing his apron (she assumed, still was face down). "So, it's been one of _those_ days, has it?"

"Hrgrbmrg!" She muttered angrily into the pillow as she squirmed. She hated the suit she was wearing, it felt like a strait jacket for how confining it felt compared to her normal wear. She turned her head to the side as she awkwardly tried to remove her jacket. "Why the hell does it have to be so hard to get a job in this country? Everyone is like 'What's you're previous work history?', or 'Can I see your birth certificate?', or 'are you even Japanese?'"

She heard Shirou let out a sigh. "You know, you don't have to get a job-"

"Yes I do." She said stubbornly. Lord knew she would have been perfectly fine lazing on her ass at home all day, but… she couldn't count on Miya's kindness forever, and it wasn't like Chiho had picked up many marketable skills while being terminally ill for most of her life. And Shirou… well, that was a whole other complicated mess she didn't want to have to put strain on. She slipped off her skirt. "I'm perfectly willing to earn my bread or whatever. I just need to find a job that doesn't ask so many questions."

From behind her she heard Shirou hum. "That's going to be difficult in this city, considering how connected everything is. It's suspicious if someone doesn't have a background."

Uzume chewed her lip as she shrugged out of her shirt. As far as she knew MBI didn't have any real plans for the Sekirei to go out and get jobs on their own. She could try asking the company for a reference or something, but given the way the Plan was going she wanted to distance herself from them as much as possible. "So what the hell am I supposed to do?"

"Well, depending on your skill set, you could try a more... personal approach. Many occupations work on reputation and word of mouth rather than normal company references, and don't tend to care about history."

"Hmm..." Uzume hummed as she thought about that. She had been trying to leverage her skill with cloth to get a job, but what other skills did she have? Maybe something else she picked up-

She hesitated before she perked up. "I've got it! I'll be a professional wizard! I'll advertise in the yellow pages and everything!"

Shriou looked at her flatly. "Uzume, we've been over this. Just because it works for Harry Dresden doesn't mean it works in real life."

"Then real life is bullshit!" Uzume declared before she flopped back down to the futon. In truth she doubted she knew enough about magic at the moment to actually make a career out of it. Shirou had remarked that she was picking it up remarkably fast, but she had only been at it for a little while.

Shirou was about to say something else before he finally seemed to notice all the layers Uzume had peeled off, the woman now clad in nothing but a pair of panties as she lay face down on the futon. "M-maybe I should wait outside until you're done changing."

Uzume just looked back and stuck out her tongue at him. "Oh, it's nothing you haven't seen before."

Which is of course when Chiho wandered in. "Shirou, has Uzume come home-" was as far as she got before she saw her Sekirei mostly naked on the futon. "U-Uzume! You can't just take off all your clothes in front of people!" she exclaimed before she rushed over to her Sekirei and covered her with a sheet.

Uzume looked at the girl fussing over her. "Because you're the only one allowed to see that?"

"Ye-No! I mean- you know what I mean!"

Uzume chuckled as she looked fondly at her Ashikabi. She really shouldn't tease her so much, but Chiho was just so adorable when she was flustered.

For the doorway, Shirou shifted a little before he looked back at Uzume. "Look, I... may know some people that could use your talents, and won't particularly care where you came from. I could introduce you to them-"

"You really mean it?" Uzume said excitedly as she sat upright to face him. Of course, this resulted in the sheet falling off her. Shirou looked away with a blush while behind her Chiho let out an 'eep!' and moved to cover her lover's chest with her hands. This put her in the awkward position of groping Uzume, but since she couldn't stop let she stop covering her, Chiho simply buried her face in the other woman's back.

Shirou just covered his face with his hands. "Yes, I mean it. I'll see if I can get something set up in a few days."

"Awesome! You hear that Chiho? Things are looking up!"

"G-good!" Chiho said, her face still pressed into Uzume's back. "Now please cover up!"

The Sekirei rolled he eyes, but said "Fine." A moment later her power manifested her usual chest binding and she was covered. Chiho let out a sigh of relief… until she realized that her hands were now trapped fondling Uzume's chest. "Ah! U-Uzume! I'm stuck!"

 _Just as planned_ , Uzume thought to herself with a grin.

* * *

The sound of someone screaming in distress had become a somewhat familiar tone to Uzume, as least during her regular patrols with Shirou. Granted it wasn't always Sekirei related (there was plenty of mundane crime in the city as well), but Sekirei fights were sill common enough in Shin Tokyo that they couldn't ignore it. "Sounds like it's coming from... over that way." Uzume said as she pointed off to the left, a slight frown on her face as she stood on the lip of the building. "Sounds a little odd though..."

Perched atop a nearby water tower, Shirou grunted. "It's not echoing like it usually does... must be on a rooftop." He said as he jumped down next to her.

"Huh. You know, aside from that time Musubi and Tsukiumi chased me, I can't remember ever seeing a Sekirei battle take place above street level."

Shirou shrugged. "Most Sekirei don't fight until their winged, and most Ashikabi don't frequent rooftops. Though it seems there are exceptions."

The two of them moved quickly, the setting sun still giving off enough light that they could see clearly. In short order they found themselves atop a building across the street from the commotion. The other building was two stories shorter than the one they were on, so they got a good view of the two Sekirei fighting, both dressed in long kimonos. Well, it wasn't really a fight; one was on her rear and scooting away, the other was slowly advancing with a spear held in front of her. Their Ashikabis, a pair of generic looking young men, stood off to the side and did nothing but look worried.

Normally that would have been enough for her and Shirou to intervene, but something held them both back. Working on her own had given Uzume keen instincts, and, the situation just seemed... off. The one on the ground was screaming her head off, but it didn't sound like terror screams. And the one with the spear was in an awkward stance, like she had never held the weapon before. The whole thing looked... staged.

Which is why she threw herself to the side the moment she hear Shirou yell "Move!"

A blade passed through the space she had been in just and instant ago, and as she rolled to her feet, she froze in terror as who she saw. The gray haired woman was already turning away from her towards Shirou, but the black uniform combined with the overcoat draped over her shoulders made it clear who it was. Karasuba, leader of MBI's Disciplinary Squad, cackled as her blade slammed into Shirou's own. "Finally! Show me what you've got Kensei!" From the corner of her eye, Uzume also saw the two Sekirei who had been 'fighting' earlier throw off their kimonos and jump towards them, their outfits matching Karasuba's own.

 _It's a trap!_

Uzume recovered before the first of the two Disciplinary Squad members reached her, a slight woman with pink hair who already had her fist cocked back as she descended towards her. The cloth Sekirei took step back and to the side, her cloth reaching out and wrapping around Pink Hair's fist just as she threw the punch. The only woman had only a moment to let out a surprised shriek before she was flipped over and cratered into the rooftop. Uzume then pulled back to avoid a swipe from the massive claw of the white haired one, who had landed next to her partner a moment later.

White Hair moved after her, but Uzume was already starting her White Lotus Dervish, and the claws tore through nothing but cloth. Still, as the first Disciplinary Squad member got up and engaged her as well Uzume was forced to remain on the defensive. These two were a lot more competent and dangerous than the last pair she had tried this on, and it was all she could do to avoid their attacks. And she wouldn't be able to keep this up forever.

And Shirou agreed, judging by the plethora of swords that suddenly dropped from the air and impaled themselves into the roof around them. Each was roughly the size and shape of a Roman Galdius, save that they all had a bright red stone in the pommel that was getting brighter and emitting an increasing tone. _Retreat it is then_ , Uzume thought, and the moment before the rising tone reached it's peak she formed a cloth blindfold that tightly covered her eyes and ears.

Even through the covering she could still see and hear the blades exploding, as well as hear the muffled cries that came after. Sure enough when she removed the blindfold she found her opponents rolling on the ground cradling their heads. She and Shirou had talked about a number of contingencies for if things ever went south on a patrol, and he had shown her what she had mentally dubbed his 'Flashbang Swords'. Littering the entire field with them meant they were to bug out as fast as possible, and Uzume just caught sight of the man disappearing over the edge of the building and out of sight.

She moved to follow, but pulled back as a wild sword slashed in front of her. "Where do you think you're going?" Karasuba growled as she blinked rapidly, dazed but not down. "He'll have to come back for you if I keep you here!"

Uzume tried to back away, but even in her dazed state Karasuba was _fast_. The katana sliced through cloth as fast as she could form it, and every strike was pushing her farther back and more off balance. In a matter of seconds Uzume was nearly at the other end of the roof, and she knew the moment she tripped the Black Sekirei would have her. Out of options, she planted her feet and created a pair of large swaths from her arms, hanging them in the air in front of her as she tried something she had be training for but never done in combat: doing the wizard thing.

When Shirou had describe it to her he call it a trigger, a sort of mental image or feeling that activated one's magic. His was the the cocking of a gun. He had said that Rin's was slicing her own throat. It took Uzume a while to figure out what her's was. It couldn't just be any old thing, it had to be something that 'triggered' a primal reaction, that mix of terror and tension you feel the moment your fight or flight instincts take hold. In the end, she settled on that feeling she had the first time she had met Higa.

 _A chain tightening around her throat._

Her fingers danced across the cloth in front of her and runes flared to life on the fabric. With a cry she swept out her arms and the cloth swept out with it. Wind and flame trailed in their wake, and as they crossed several cyclones of fire formed between her and Karasuba. The Black Sekirei jumped back in surprise at the sudden pyroclasm, and in that moment when line of sight was broken Uzume jumped back off the roof. As she fell Uzume shot out a line of cloth at a near by flag and grabbed the pole, swinging herself clear of the building and down the street.

She was on the move for several minutes before she reached the rendezvous point, landing and ducking into an alley. She nearly lashed out at the person already there before she realized he had beaten her here. "Shirou! Are you alright? Why they hell is the Disciplinary Squad after us?"

The man looked around nervously. "I'm not sure. Probably finally got tired of us interfering with the Plan." He let out a breath before he looked back at Uzume. "We need to get back to the inn and get our bearings. We need to be a lot more careful now that MBI is after us too."

Uzume nodded grimly as she followed him out of the alleyway and back towards the inn (using every trick they knew to shake a tail, of course).Her thoughts revolved around Chiho, and how she would keep the sweet girl out of the new mess they had found themselves in. Although, if she had been paying more attention, she might have noticed the figure watching them from the roofs above.


End file.
